UPDATE 1-Donors pitch in to pay for surgery for extremely obese Texas girl

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters)- Nearly 1,500 donors have pledged
more than $62,000 to help pay for surgery for a 12-year-old
Texas girl diagnosed as morbidly obese due to a brain disease
that is causing her to gain about two pounds a week.

Alexis Shapiro suffered damage to her pituitary gland, which
helps regulate weight, as a result of the brain disease. She has
gained about 140 pounds (63.5 kgs) in less than two years
because of the problem, her mother said. Her extreme excess of
body fat is clinically defined as morbid obesity.

"It has been heartbreaking for her and for us. She cannot do
the things she used to love," Jennifer Shapiro, her mother,
said on the fundraising site GoFundMe.

The mother said she is seeking about $50,000 for life-saving
surgery to reduce the size of her daughter's stomach because the
family's insurance company will not pay for the procedure unless
the patient is at least 18 or has achieved full bone growth.

Dr. Thomas Inge, a specialist in pediatric obesity at the
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, told NBC News
that Alexis could receive the surgery at the hospital where he
works within six weeks now that the funding appears to be in
place.

"Alexis will be seen this week in Cincinnati, and the
preparations for surgery will be made at that time," Inge told
Reuters by email.

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